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Lafayette  College 

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Commencement  Addresses 


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Rev.  John  R.  Davies,  D.  D. 

Prof.  W.  W.  Keen,  M.  D.,  LL.D. 


Lafayette  College 


Commencement  Addresses 

1893 


“What  Shall  I  Do  With  Jesus?” 
BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 

BY  REV.  JOHN  R.  DAVIES,  D.D.,  CLASS  OF  1881,  PASTOR  OF  THE  FOURTH 
PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


“Medicine  as  a  Career  for  Educated  Men” 

ALUMNI  ADDRESS 

BY  WILLIAM  W.  KEEN,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  PROFESSOR  OF  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF 
SURGERY  AND  OF  CLINICAL  SURGERY,  JEFFERSON  MEDI¬ 
CAL  COLLEGE,  PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


LAFAYETTE  PRESS 
1893' 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


'-jpHE  addresses  printed  herein  were  received  with  so  much  favor  by 
those  who  heard  them  that  the  trustees  directed  that  copies  should 
be  asked  for  publication.  Dr.  Davies  and  Professor  Keen  having  kindly 
consented  to  do  so,  they  are  now  printed  for  distribution  among  the 
alumni  and  friends  of  Lafayette  College. 


Midsummer,  1893. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/lafayettecollegeOOdavi 


WHAT  SHALL  I  DO  WITH  JESUS? 

BY  REV.  JOHN  R.  DAVIES,  D.  D.,  CLASS  OF  1881. 

Pastor  of  the  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York  City. 


Matthew  xxvii,  22. — “  Pilate  saith  unto  them,  what  shall  I  do, 
then,  with  Jesus  who  is  called  Christ?  ” 


THERE  are  three  cities  which  were  very  prominent  in  the 
ancient  world,  and  which,  though  in  a  sense  dead,  are  still 
coloring  the  life  of  to-day.  I  refer  to  Rome,  Athens,  and 
Jerusalem.  To  the  last  of  these  we  are  now  invited  by  our 
text.  As  we  approach  its  gates,  we  are  surrounded  by  the 
opulent  beauty  of  an  oriental  spring.  As  we  move  along  its 
streets  we  find  that  it  is  the  Passover  week ;  and  what  at  this 
moment  is  the  most  impressive  sight  in  this  ancient  city?  Is 
it  these  altars  smoking  with  the  morning  sacrifice  ?  Is  it  these 
temple  pinnacles  radiant  with  this  Pascal  sunshine?  Is  it  these 
thronging  thousands  who  have  come  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
to  spend  this  sacred  week  in  this  holy  place  ?  No  !  The  most 
impressive  sight  in  Jerusalem — yes,  in  all  the  universe — is 
yonder  lone  prisoner  at  Pilate’s  bar.  Repeatedly  has  the 
Roman  governor  attempted  to  release  him,  but  repeatedly  has 
he  been  frustrated,  upon  the  one  side  by  his  own  cowardice, 
and  upon  the  other  by  the  unrelenting  bitterness  of  the  Jewish 
people.  At  last,  as  though  to  shirk  the  responsibility  of  a 
crime  that  he  could  easily  prevent,  he  asks  the  question : 

‘  ‘  Whom  shall  I  release  unto  you  ?  ’  ’  And  immediately  comes 
the  unanimous  answer:  “  Barabbas.”  But  why  is  Pilate  so 
much  concerned  about  this  obscure,  despised,  and  friendless 
prisoner?  Surely  in  an  age  when  life  was  so  little  regarded 
he  might  have  slaughtered  a  score  without  any  one  calling 
him  seriously  to  account.  But,  though  obscure,  despised,  and 
friendless,  Jesus  ’ of  Nazareth  is  no  ordinary  prisoner.  This 
Pilate  realizes,  and  has  a  deep  conviction  that  these  mysterious 


2 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


claims  to  be  the  Christ,  the  King  of  the  Jews,  have  a  far  more 
substantial  foundation  than  the  baseless  assertion  of  empty 
words.  And  here  lies  the  power  of  my  text  in  relation  to  the 
life  of  to-day,  not  in  the  fact  that  it  was  first  spoken  by  a  Roman 
governor,  not  in  the  fact  that  it  was  first  addressed  to  God’s 
chosen  people,  not  even  in  the  fact  that  it  is  found  upon  the 
pages  of  the  gospel,  but  because  this  question  concerns  the 
divinely  appointed,  the  eternally  ordained  Redeemer  of  men, 
and  therefore,  with  the  best  of  reasons  can  we  say  to  a  modern 
audience,  what  thent  are  you  going  to  do.  with  Jesus  who  is 
called  Christ? 

Before  proceeding  further,  let  us  look  briefly  at  some  of  the 
claims  of  Christ.  Standing  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives,  He  said : 
‘  ‘  I  am  the  light  of  the  world :  he  that  followeth  me  shall  not 
walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.”  In  the 
fourteenth  chapter  of  John,  He  said:  “I  am  the  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life :  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by 
me.”  After  the  multitude  had  been  fed  with  the  loaves  and 
fishes,  He  said:  “I  am  the  bread  of  life:  he  that  cometh  to 
me  shall  never  hunger;  and  he  that  believeth  on  me  shall 
never  thirst.”  When  certain  Greeks  desired  an  audience,  He 
said:  “And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  me.”  As  a  parting  message  to  His  disciples  He  said: 
“All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye 
therefore,  and  disciple  all  nations,  teaching  them  whatsoever  I 
have  commanded  you.”  And  one  of  the  most  solemn  of  the 
parables  which  close  the  Master’s  ministry,  represents  Him  as 
coming  at  the  end  of  all  things,  surrounded  by  the  pomp  and 
splendor  of  the  skies,  to  separate  the  sheep  from  the  goats,  and 
to  sit  in  final  judgment  upon  an  assembled  universe.  Such  are 
a  few  of  the  many  claims  of  Christ  to  be  met  with  in  the  gospels. 
You  can  not  find  their  equal  among  the  utterances  of  the  world’s 
great  leaders.  No  scholar,  no  matter  how  great  his  learning ; 
no  conqueror,  no  matter  how  numerous  his  conquests ;  no  mon¬ 
arch,  no  matter  how  world- wide  his  dominions,  would  have 


BACCALAUREATE  sermon 


3 


dared  for  one  moment  to  have  given  utterance  to  such  claims ; 
and  when  we  look  at  them  through  the  light  of  the  evidences 
whereby  upon  every  side  they  are  surrounded,  we  do  not  wonder 
at  the  testimony  of  Peter,  endorsed  by  the  great  and  good  of 
every  succeeding  century,  “Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God.” 

I. —In  looking  at  the  foundations  upon  which  these  claims 
rest,  we  will  call  j^our  attention  first  to  the  teaching  of  Christ. 

You  will  recall  the  words  of  Nicodemus,  “Rabbi,  we  know 
that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God :  because  no  one  can  do 
these  miracles  that  thou  doest,  except  God  be  with  him.” 
This  significant  statement  has  been  confirmed  by  Jew  and  Gen¬ 
tile,  by  all  branches  of  the  Church  Catholic,  by  every  one  who 
has  sincerely  and  candidly  studied  the  words  of  Christ.  There 
is  about  them  a  peculiar  tone  of  authority.  While  the  Master 
referred  to  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim,  and  while  He  quoted  from 
Old  Testament  writers,  yet  far  above  the  law  of  Moses,  the 
psalms  of  David,  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  He  placed  His  own 
words  and  work.  Thus  we  are  told  that  He  spake  with  authority 
and  not  as  the  scribes,  and  when  at  last  He  would  send  forth 
His  disciples,  He  bade  them  teach  whatsoever  He  had  com¬ 
manded  them,  and  in  the  case  of  each  believer  that  teaching 
was  to  be  sealed  with  a  baptism,  not  only  in  the  name  of  God 
the  Father,  not  only  in  the  name  of  God  the  Spirit,  but  also  in 
the  name  of  God  the  Son,  as  being  upon  an  equal  plane  of 
power  and  glory  with  the  other  persons  of  the  Trinity. 

There  is  also  about  His  teaching  a  mingled  sublimity  and 
simplicity.  God  and  Man,  Sin  and  Redemption,  Life  and 
Death,  Time  and  Eternity,  Probation  and  Judgment — these 
were  a  few  of  the  majestic  themes  that  presented  themselves  to 
the  Master’s  attention,  and  were  so  discussed  that  His  hearers 
were  lifted  to  transfiguration  mounts,  to  celestial  spheres,  and 
for  a  time,  all  too  brief,  conversed  with  the  Divine  and  the 
Eternal.  And  yet,  marvelous  to  tell,  instead  of  confusing  His 
listeners  with  scholastic  subtleties,  instead  of  concealing  truth 


4 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


in  verbal  fogs,  instead  of  strewing  the  pathways  of  knowledge 
with  perplexing  enigmas,  the  grandest  revelations  that  Christ 
ever  made  were  communicated  in  the  first  instance  to  the  hum¬ 
blest  of  mortals,  in  the  simplest  of  speech,  so  that  the  commonest 
of  the  people  heard  Him  gladly.  And  there  is,  furthermore, 
about  Christ’s  teaching  a  wondrous  power  which  not  only  pene¬ 
trates  the  secret  recesses  of  the  soul  and  brings  to  the  lip  the 
confession  of  guilt,  but  also  quickens  the  intellectual  and  spirit¬ 
ual  faculties,  so  that  men  in  every  walk  of  life  coming  under  the 
influence  of  such  a  teacher  have  been  filled  with  newer,  with 
diviner  inspirations,  and  from  this  source  modern  civilization 
has  received  some  of  its  grandest  benefactions.  There  is  also 
about  this  teaching  the  power  of  continuance.  Call  the  roll  of 
the  ponderous  volumes,  the  schools  of  thought,  the  numerous 
teachers,  which’  for  a  moment  have  shone  in  the  intellectual 
skies  and  then  have  disappeared  in  the  darkness;  while  of 
Christ  as  a  teacher  it  can  well  be  said  that  His  kingdom  is  ever¬ 
lasting,  and  in  spite  of  English  Deists,  French  Encyclopoedists, 
and  modern  Agnostics,  His  influence,  like  the  incoming  tide,  is 
cumulative,  is  ever-rising,  and  upon  its  celestial  crest  is  ever 
lifting  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  more  and  more  into  loving 
fellowship  with  the  mind  and  heart  of  Almighty  God. 

II. — In  the  next  place  we  will  call  your  attention  to  Christ’s 
character. 

Sin  is  one  of  the  great  factors  of  the  world’s  history.  It  has 
blackened  every  page,  distorted  every  sentence,  accented  every 
word,  and  defiled  every  character,  no  matter  how  high  the 
position  he  may  have  occupied,  or  how  low  he  may  have  grov¬ 
elled  in  the  dirt  to  eke  out  a  miserable  existence.  Sin  is  also 
one  of  the  great  factors  of  the  present.  It  surrounds  you  on  the 
street ;  it  beleaguers  you  in  your  business ;  it  confronts  you  in 
the  members  of  your  body  and  in  the  faculties  of  your  own  soul. 
Upon  every  side  arise  a  thousand  witnesses  to  prove  the  truth  of 
sacred  Scripture  that  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the 
glory  of  God.  But  amid  this  dark  and  loathsome  flood  of  sin 


baccalaureate  sermon 


5 


there  rises  one  pre-eminent  exception,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who 
alone  is  holy,  undefiled,  and  by  impassable  gulfs  separated 
from  the  least  appearance  of  evil.  And  this  purity  of  soul  was 
maintained,  not  like  that  attempted  by  St.  Anthony  and  his 
followers  amid  the  solitude  of  the  desert,  amid  the  lonely  retire¬ 
ment  of  some  mountain  fastness.  No;  Jesus  of  Nazareth  lived 
and  moved  amid  the  heaviest  burdens,  the  greatest  perplexities, 
the  subtlest  temptations,  and  though  He  was  the  continued 
object  of  the  bitterest  malice,  yet  none  of  His  enemies  were  able 
to  convict  Him  of  the  slightest  sin.  In  further  confirmation  of 
His  spotless  purity  is  the  fact  that  while  He  spake  most  emphat¬ 
ically  concerning  the  wages  of  sin,  while  with  an  earnestness  all 
divine  He  called  others  to  repentance,  and  while  upon  the  cross 
He  freely  gave  His  own  life  as  a  sacrifice  for  human  guilt,  yet 
never  by  word  or  look  did  He  at  any  time  intimate  that  He 
needed  such  warnings  or  feared  such  punishments,  or  required 
such  a  redemption. 

You  speak  of  Pontius  Pilate  and  you  see  a  Roman;  of  Judas 
Iscariot  and  you  see  a  Jew  ;  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  and  you  see  the 
Greek  influences  of  his  birth  and  education.  But  where  will 
you  place  Jesus  of  Nazareth?  Though  born  in  a  Jewish  town 
and  of  the  purest  Jewish  blood,  He  is  a  member  of  no  race,  a 
subject  of  no  kingdom,  a  citizen  of  no  republic,  the  exclusive 
property  of  no  clime  nor  country.  Like  the  sun,  which,  ignor¬ 
ing  geographical  boundaries  and  race  distinctions,  comes  with  a 
necessary  blessing  for  all,  so  Christ,  the  Eternal  Son  of  Right¬ 
eousness,  ignoring  all  these  limitations,  brings  to  every  soul  the 
Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life,  so  that  your  cultured  Caucasian 
and  degraded  Hottentot  can  find  in  Christ  the  very  redemption 
for  which  their  souls  have  yearned,  and  in  this  fact  you  may  see 
something  of  the  cosmopolitan,  the  universal  character  of  Christ, 
the  world’s  redeemer. 

Then  there  is  something  so  original  about  this  man,  Christ 
Jesus.  You  have  two  natures,  the  human  and  the  divine, 
without  mixture  or  confusion,  uniting  in  the  personality  of  the 


6 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


Christ.  Then  look  at  some  of  the  more  prominent  features  of 
His  ministry — the  temptation  in  the  wilderness,  the  rejection  by 
those  He  came  to  save,  the  mystery  of  Gethsemane,  the  brutality 
of  the  trial,  the  mingled  shame  and  agony  of  the  cross.  Tell 
me,  what  writer  born  of  woman  would  have  marked  out  for  the 
world’s  Redeemer  such  a  mystic  personality  and  such  a  unique 
career  ?  And  in  connection  with  this,  consider  the  moral  grand¬ 
eur,  the  complete  consecration,  the  utter  unselfishness  of  soul, 
displayed  by  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  he  stands  amid  the  unbridled 
cruelty,  the  unlimited  selfishness,  the  unfathomed  lust  of  that 
period,  like  some  lone  star  amid  the  darkness  of  earth’s  blackest 
night.  Pointing  to  the  gracious  beauty,  the  delicate  fragrance 
of  the  lily,  I  ask  who  fashioned  this  flower  with  such  loveliness, 
such  purity,  amid  the  unclean  waters  and  the  filth  of  the  lake 
bottom,  and  at  once  you  reply,  the  finger  of  God.  So  when 
you  come  to  candidly  study  the  beginnings  of  the  Christian  era, 
so  shorn  of  noble  endeavor,  so  stripped  of  great  men,  so  thor¬ 
oughly  a  stranger  to  lofty  inspirations,  so  utterly  absorbed  in  the 
worship  of  the  sensual  and  the  skeptical,  I  am  sure  you  will 
join  with  me  in  saying  the  appearance  amid  such  surroundings 
of  Christ,  the  Lily  of  the  Valley,  the  Rose  of  Sharon,  is  the 
greatest  moral  miracle  of  the  ages,  and  can  be  attributed  to  none 
but  God  Himself. 

III. — In  the  next  place,  consider  the  influence  of  Christ. 

In  the  city  of  Paris  there  sits  an  Arbitration  Court  to  settle  a 
question  which  in  other  days  would  have  been  deemed  quite 
sufficient  to  have  plunged  nations  into  war,  to  sacrifice  thou¬ 
sands  of  lives  and  to  squander  millions  of  money.  And  this 
Arbitration  Court,  which  is  neither  the  first  nor  the  last,  is  an 
indication  of  the  widening,  the  deepening  sense  of  the  brother¬ 
hood  of  man,  which  sooner  or  later  must  make  our  armies  and 
navies  more  needed  for  show  than  for  service.  Few  names 
stand  higher  in  Roman  history  than  those  of  Cicero  and  Seneca ; 
few  men  have  had  more  influence  over  the  world’s  thought  than 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  and  yet,  these  men  approved  of  that  fiendish 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


7 


custom  which  thrust  the  babe  out  of  the  home  where  it  was 
born,  and  from  the  breast  where  it  had  a  God-given  right  to  be 
nurtured,  to  die  of  exposure  upon  the  street,  or  to  be  torn  in 
pieces  upon  the  desert  by  wild  beasts  a  thousandfold  more 
humane  than  man.  To-day,  for  the  friendless  foundling  we 
build  magnificent  homes,  which  lack  nothing  except  that  price¬ 
less  gem,  a  mother’s  love;  while  in  our  families  we  crown  child¬ 
hood  with  garlands  of  the  tenderest  affection,  and  are  willing  to 
suffer  any  self-denial  in  order  that  they  may  have  everything 
necessary  for  their  welfare  and  comfort.  We  rejoice  in  the  civil 
liberty  which  enables  each  citizen  to  exercise  a  direct  influence 
in  the  settlement  of  every  question  affecting  the  public  weal; 
and  we  appreciate  still  more  the  religious  freedom  which  enables 
us  to  worship  God  according  to  conscientious  conviction,  which 
no  man  dare  condition  or  fetter.  But  we  have  not  always  en¬ 
joyed  these  privileges.  Look  backward  along  the  past,  and  you 
will  easily  find  the  grossest  tyranny  upon  the  throne,  and  in  the 
church  a  despotism  that  will  stoop  to  any  cruelty  in  order  to  ac¬ 
complish  its  hell-born  purposes.  You  remember  the  sanctity 
which  used  to  attach  itself  to  the  personality  of  the  clerk  with 
the  merest  smattering  of  learning ;  you  remember  the  imperfect 
structures  in  which  Baeda,  Alcuin,  and  even  Abelard  gathered 
their  pupils  and  you  will  remember  that  during  the  thirteenth 
century  the  greatest  library  in  Europe  was  that  of  Glastonbury 
Abbey,  consisting  of  about  four  hundred  volumes.  Now,  one 
of  the  significant  features  of  these  modern  times  is  the  fact  that 
none  who  have  grit  and  brains  need  enter  life  without  a  liberal 
education,  because  we  are  surrounded  in  town  and  city  by  ex¬ 
tensive  libraries,  by  superb  foundations  of  learning,  that  are  say¬ 
ing  to  every  young  person  without  a  chance :  Prove  yourself  to 
be  worthy  of  help  and  that  help  we  will  furnish.  In  early  sum¬ 
mer,  when  the  last  traces  of  winter’s  frosts  and  snows  are  de¬ 
parting,  you  say  there  is  some  subtle  force  responsible  for  this 
revolution  which  causes  the  meadows  to  robe  themselves  in 
green,  the  forests  to  unfurl  their  banners  of  foliage,  and  the 


8 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


flowers  to  swing  their  fragrant  censors  along  the  pathways  of 
men.  So,  when  we  look  over  the  history  of  nearly  nineteen 
Christian  centuries,  and  mark  the  vast  changes  represented  by 
far-reaching  movements ;  when  we  come  in  contact  with  an  or¬ 
der  of  things  ever  working  in  the  direction  of  righteousness ; 
when  we  see  Sauls  of  Tarsus  becoming  apostles  to  the  Gentiles, 
Magdalens  restored  to  purity,  prodigals  redeemed  from  the  fool¬ 
ishness  and  filth  of  the  far  country  and  made  to  be  useful  and 
honored  members  of  society;  when  we  watch,  in  spite  of  all 
downward  tendencies,  the  human  spirit  rising  in  everything  that 
constitutes  the  truest,  the  holiest  manhood,  we  are  profoundly 
convinced  that  for  such  a  radical  transformation  there  must  be  a 
sufficient  cause ;  and  in  search  of  this  cause  we  turn  to  Rome 
with  her  empire,  to  Greece  with  her  scholarship,  to  Tyre  with 
her  commerce,  to  Babylon  with  her  glory,  to  the  farthest  Orient 
whence  have  come  so  many  mysterious  messengers ;  but  no  sat¬ 
isfaction  do  we  find  until  we  stand  amid  the  gathering  darkness, 
looking  upon  the  pallid  features  of  the  crucified  Christ.  Yes, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  in  this  stumbling  block  to  the  Jew,  in 
this  foolishness  to  the  Greek,  in  this  despised,  obscure  peasant, 
you  have  the  secret  of  the  progress  which  has  changed  the  face 
of  the  ages,  rewritten  human  history,  and  is  destined  to  sweep 
on  in  larger  volume,  in  deeper  current,  until  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world  shall  have  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and 
His  Christ. 

IV. — In  the  last  place,  consider  the  testimony  of  the  scriptures. 

When  Christ  said  ‘  ‘  Search  the  scriptures  for  they  are  they 
which  testify  of  me,”  He  never  gave  a  more  important  com¬ 
mand  or  spake  a  truer  word.  And  if  we  had  time  this  morning 
to  fully  and  carefully  examine  the  sacred  volume,  we  would 
find  its  every  book  bearing  an  eloquent,  peculiar  and  powerful 
testimony  to  Him  who  is  the  Prophet,  Priest  and  King  of  men. 
But  we  have  opportunity  to  consider  only  and  briefly  the 
New  Testament,  and  in  so  doing  we  find  that  it  ascribes  to 
Christ  Divine  titles.  Turning  to  John  i,  i,  we  read:  “In  the 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


9 


beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God.”  In  Romans  ix,  5,  we  read:  “Whose  are  the 
Father’s,  and  of  whom  as  concerning  the  flesh  Christ  came, 
who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  forever.”  The  New  Testament  also 
ascribes  Divine  attributes  to  Christ.  He  is  immutable — the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forevermore.  He  is  omnipotent — 
all  power  in  heaven  and  earth  is  placed  at  His  disposal.  He  is 
eternal — to  His  enemies  He  said,  ‘  ‘  before  Abraham  was  I  am ;  ’  ’ 
and  in  the  upper  room  He  prayed,  “and  now,  O  Father, 
glorify  thou  me  with  thine  own  self,  with  the  glory  which  I  had 
with  thee  before  the  world  was.”  He  is  omnipresent — to  His  dis¬ 
ciples  He  gave  the  promise,  “where  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst,  and  lo,  I  am 
with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.”  He  is  omnis¬ 
cient — He  knew  Nathaniel  while  he  was  yet  under  the  fig  tree. 
He  read  the  secret  purposes  of  Judas  before  the  betrayal;  and 
the  truth  upon  this  important  point  is  well  summed  up  in  the 
impassioned  words  of  Peter,  “Ford,  thou  knowest  all  things ; 
thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee.”  The  New  Testament,  fur¬ 
thermore,  bids  us  render  Divine  honors  to  Christ.  In  John  v, 
23,  we  read:  “That  all  men  should  honor  the  Son,  even  as 
they  honor  the  Father  ;  He  that  honoreth  not  the  Son  honoreth 
not  the  Father  that  sent  him.”  In  Philippians  ii,  9,  10,  11,  we 
learn  that,  ‘  ‘  God  hath  highly  exalted  Christ  and  given  him  a 
name  which  is  above  every  name ;  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus 
every  knee  should  bow  and  every  tongue  should  confess  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  Ford,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.”  And  in 
the  closing  verses  of  the  fifth  chapter  of  Revelation,  we  see  that 
multitude  which  no  man  can  number  ascribing  blessing  and 
honor  unto  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  Throne  and  unto  the 
Famb  forever.  Now  this  divine  exaltation  which  the  New 
Testament  gives  to  Christ  is  the  very  position  that  we  would 
naturally  give  to  Him  who  has  exercised  such  a  vast  influence 
over  the  ages ;  while,  upon  the  other  hand,  such  a  vast  influence 
we  have  a  right  to  expect  from  One  who  sits  upon  the  Throne 


IO 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


of  the  Universe,  and  Christ’s  right  to  such  a  regal  station  is 
strengthened  by  every  argument  that  can  be  used  for  the  in¬ 
spiration  of  the  scriptures,  and  by  the  fact  that  with  a  Divine 
Christ,  possessed  of  Divine  attributes,  the  author  of  Divine 
works  in  the  sphere  of  nature  and  of  grace,  you  can  explain  the 
upward  movement  in  human  history ;  you  can  vindicate  the 
character  of  God  from  every  aspersion ;  you  can  answer  the 
yearnings  of  every  human  soul,  and  you  have  a  center  around 
which  the  past,  the  present  and  the  future  may  group  them¬ 
selves,  and  when  you  take  this  Christo-centric  position  under¬ 
neath  and  amid  the  chaos  and  the  confusion,  the  sin  and  the 
shame  of  to-day,  you  may  see  the  glorious  outlines  of  that  City 
of  God,  which  for  centuries  has  been  the  inspiration  of  the 
Church  Militant,  and  which  will  not  need  the  ministry  of  sun, 
moon,  nor  star,  because  the  Lamb  Himself  will  be  the  light 
thereof. 

I  have  given  you  the  merest  fragment  of  the  grand  argument 
for  the  Divinity  of  Christ ;  and  yet  I  think  that  I  have  said  suf¬ 
ficient  to- invest  with  a  deep,  a  profound  solemnity  the  question 
of  my  text,  What  shall  I  do,  then,  with  Jesus,  who  is  called 
Christ  ?  This  question,  unlike  many  others  that  you  meet, 
demands  an  answer.  You  may  treat  Him  with  undisguised 
hostility,  and  spend  every  resource  at  your  command  in  attempt¬ 
ing  to  soil  the  robe,  tarnish  the  crown,  break  the  scepter,  under¬ 
mine  the  throne  of  your  best  and  truest  King,  but  at  last,  like 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  you  will  find  it  hard  to  kick  against  the  pricks, 
and  like  many  to-day  you  will  realize  that  it  is  worse  than  mad¬ 
ness  to  fight  against  God.  You  may  treat  Christ  with  indiffer¬ 
ence  ;  you  may  become  so  identified  with  business,  so  absorbed 
in  study,  so  attracted  by  the  deceptive  forms,  the  alluring  colors 
in  which  the  world  presents  itself  upon  every  occasion  that  you 
will  not  care  to  consider  the  claims  of  Christ ;  but  remember, 
such  indifference  is  the  malaria  that  will  poison  every  fiber  of 
your  spiritual  nature,  and  it  is  also  the  Niagara  current,  at  first 
faint,  but  swifter  and  swifter  it  will  flow,  until  at  last  you  are 


\ 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON 


II 


dashed  into  the  seething  abyss,  a  ship-wrecked  life,  a  ruined 
soul.  But  there  is  another  attitude,  and  this  is  the  one  I  beg 
you  to  assume.  It  is  the  one  taken  by  Mary  in  the  Resurrection 
Garden,  when  the  glad  cry  of  “  Master  !  ”  came  from  her  tremb¬ 
ling  lips.  Simple  trust,  unfaltering  obedience,  supreme  love, 
these  are  some  of  the  elements  which  bound  this  woman  to  her 
Saviour;  and  now,  as  I  part  with  you,  never  again  to  see  some 
until  we  stand  in  eternity,  I  pray  that  God’s  Holy  Spirit  by 
these  same  golden  chains  of  trust,  obedience,  and  love  will  bind 
you  to  Christ,  the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  and  then  for  you  will  be 
divinely  answered  the  question  of  my  text,  What,  then,  shall  I 
do  with  Jesus,  who  is  called  Christ  ? 


MEDICINE  AS  A  CAREER  FOR  EDUCATED  MEN. 

BY  W.  W.  KEEN,  M.  D.,  LL.D.,  OF  PHILADELPHIA, 

Professor  of  the  Principles  of  Surgery  and  of  Clinical  Surgery,  Jefferson  Medical  College. 

BEAUTIFUL,  for  situation,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,” 
was  the  description  of  ancient  Jerusalem  by  its  enthusi¬ 
astic  admirer.  And  surely  any  one  looking  on  Pardee 
Hall  would  be  justified  in  applying  this  encomium  to  Lafayette 
College.  It  is  a  genuine  pleasure  to  me  to  join  with  you  in 
your  annual  festival  when  your  tribes  come  up  to  their  intel¬ 
lectual  Jerusalem,  “singing  their  songs  of  degrees”  as  of  old. 
And  although  the  son  of  another  academic  mother,  I  rejoice 
with  you  in  the  prosperity  and  glories  of  your  noble  college.  I 
see  around  me  old  men,  graduates  of  the  forties,  with  silvered 
heads,  their  paths  in  life  chosen,  their  duties  fulfilled,  their 
lives  culminating  in  honored,  cultivated  leisure  and  wide  influ¬ 
ence,  whose  achievements  are  recorded  in  the  history  of  the 
world  of  art,  science,  literature,  language,  business  and  religion. 
I  see  again  men  in  middle  life,  graduates  of  the  sixties  and 
seventies,  alert  for  every  opening  for  the  best  work  in  the  world’s 
great  enterprises.  They  are  in  the  fore-front  of  the  fight  against 
ignorance,  vice,  and  irreligion. 

But  it  is  rather  to  the  young  men,  and  especially  to  you, 
gentlemen  of  the  graduating  class,  who  are  now  taking  leave  of 
these  classic  shades  where  you  have  spent  the  four  most  blissful 
and  fruitful  years  of  a  man’s  life,  to  which  he  ever  reverts  as  the 
halcyon  days  of  youth — to  you  that  I  especially  address  myself. 
The  joys,  the  trials,  the  studies,  the  achievements  of  your  col¬ 
lege  life  are  now,  or  soon  will  be,  over.  The  world  stands  open 
before  you.  “  What  shall  I  do?”  is  the  question  of  questions 
to  you.  The  decision  of  this  question  may  make  or  mar  you. 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


13 

If  you  decide  rightly  you  will  achieve  success,  honor,  happi¬ 
ness,  and  the  final  consolation  of  a  life  well  and  nobly  spent. 
If  wrongly,  your  decision  may  wreck,  even  hopelessly,  a  young 
life  full  of  brilliant  promise.  You  and  your  fellows  in  the  many 
colleges  of  the  land  who  will  graduate  in  this  leafy  June  have 
on  your  side  youth  with  all  its  potencies.  You  have  a  just  and 
laudable  ambition.  You  are  ready  to  work  your  finger  nails 
off.  You  have  trained  intellects.  You  are  members  of  the  true 
aristocracy  of  learning,  men  of  marshalled  forces,  the  hope  of 
the  nation,  the  future  natural  leaders  of  thought  in  public  and 
in  private  life.  What  shall  you  do?  “  Surely,”  says  Carlyle 
in  his  Biography  of  John  Stirling,  “the  young  heroic  soul  en¬ 
tering  on  life  so  opulent,  full  of  sunny  hope,  of  noble  valor,  and 
divine  intention,  is  tragical  as  well  as  beautiful  to  us.” 

It  is  of  equal  importance  to  the  community  as  well  as  to  you 
that  you  elect  wisely  what  path  you  will  follow  in  this  busy 
world.  Some  of  you  will  enter  commercial  life,  lured  possibly 
by  hopes  of  material  reward.  Some  may  be  devoted  to  art 
with  its  aesthetic  enjoyments.  Some  will  find  in  literature  the 
contentment  and  fame  that  come  to  the  successful  author. 
Some  will  devote  their  lives  to  the  highest  human  function  and 
service  to  their  fellow  men,  in  winning  them  to  Christ-like  lives 
and  heavenly  aspirations.  Some  will  seek  the  noble  profession 
of  the  law  and  will  become  leaders  of  the  bar  and  wear  the 
ermine  on  the  bench.  Not  a  few,  I  hope,  will  devote  yourselves 
to  a  scientific  career  with,  it  is  true,  its  ceaseless  toil,  but  also 
its  fascinating  investigations,  its  splendid  discoveries,  its  benefi¬ 
cent  inventions. 

It  is  my  desire  to  lay  before  you  some  of  the  rewards,  the 
possibilities,  the  attractions  of  such  a  scientific  life,  and  to  win 
you  to  its  pursuits,  since  it  has  attractions,  wonderful  attrac¬ 
tions,  from  many  sides  and  for  every  type  of  man,  excepting 
always  the  lazy.  I  have  selected  as  my  topic,  therefore,  “  Medi¬ 
cine  as  a  Career  for  Educated  Men.” 

I  am  met  at  the  outset  by  the  query,  “Are  there  not  already 


14 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


too  many  doctors  ?  ”  Yes;  far  too  many  poor  doctors,  but  far 
too  few  good  ones.  Webster’s  oft-quoted  remark  that  “there  is 
plenty  of  room  at  the  top  ’  ’  is  as  true  of  medicine  as  of  any  other 
profession.  In  any  profession  there  is  always  a  reserved  seat  in 
the  front  row  for  a  March,  a  Faraday,  a  Schliemann,  a  John 
Hunter,  a  Lister,  a  Virchow,  a  Pasteur,  a  Gross.  And  although 
no  one  of  you  may  become  the  peer  of  those  I  have  named — and 
yet  why  should  you  not  ? — still  there  is  always  room  right  next 
to  them  for  the  trained  intellects  who  will  make  their  profession 
an  integral  part  of  their  lives  and  devote  themselves  earnestly 
and  truly  to  its  pursuit.  Never  has  there  been  such  a  demand 
in  medicine  for  men  of  the  highest  type,  the  deepest  insight, 
the  profoundest  spirit  of  investigation.  Never  have  there  been 
so  many  questions  of  grave  import  to  the  human  race  awaiting 
solution.  The  mighty  problems  of  life  and  disease  and  death 
crowd  upon  us  and  await  the  touch  of  a  master  hand  to  make 
the  obscure  clear,  to  avert  the  dire  results  of  accident,  to  stay 
the  hand  of  the  Angel  of  Death  and  say  in  dominant  tones, 
“Thus  far  and  no  farther.” 

Medicine  is  looking  to  just  such  well-equipped,  thoroughly 
trained  men  as  you  for  its  champions  in  this  daily  fight  with 
death.  And  if  you  wish  to  rise  above  the  dull  level  of  medi¬ 
ocrity  it  will  be  to  you  college  men  that  the  renown  which 
is  the  proper  object  of  a  laudable  ambition  will  surely  come. 
President  Thwing  in  the  June  Forum  states  that  Appleton’s 
Encyclopedia  of  American  Biography  contains  the  names  of 
912  doctors  of  whom  473  were  college-bred  men.  The  Medical 
Record ,  commenting  upon  this  fact,  estimates  that  300,000  men 
have  started  out  in  medicine  in  this  country  during  the  pre¬ 
sent  century.  If  so,  the  chance  of  the  ordinary  doctor’s  becom¬ 
ing  famous  is  about  one  in  300.  But  if  he  be  a  college- 
bred  man  it  is  about  one  in  six.  The  profession,  as  I  have 
said,  is  filled  to  repletion  with  poor  men  and  untrained  men. 
What  we  want  is  the  men  fresh  from  the  laboratories  of  the  best 
colleges,  men  whose  minds  are  trained  in  logical  methods,  who 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


15 


are  versed  in  the  “humanities,”  who  possess  refinement  and 
culture,  who,  having  eyes  and  ears,  have  learned  to  use  them 
to  the  best  advantage.  In  that  delightful  book,  “The  Gold- 
Headed  Cane,”  Radcliffe — him  of  the  library — visits  Mead  in  his 
library  and  says :  ‘  ‘  As  I  have  grown  older,  every  year  of  my 
life  has  convinced  me  more  and  more  of  the  value  of  the  educa¬ 
tion  of  the  scholar  and  the  gentleman  to  the  thoroughbred 
physician.  Perhaps  your  friend  there  (pointing  to  a  volume  of 
Celsus)  expresses  my  meaning  better  than  I  can  myself  when 
he  says  that  this  discipline  of  the  mind,  ‘  quamvis  non  faciat 
medicum,  aptiorem  tamen  medicince  reddit .’  ” 

The  signs  of  the  times  point  to  a  closer  affiliation  of  colleges 
and  medical  schools,  which  will  be  equally  advantageous  to 
both.  Five  years  ago  nearly  all  the  medical  schools  in  this 
country  were  two-year  schools.  Now  nearly  all  have  the  three- 
year  courses  and  a  few  four,  and  the  new  Pennsylvania  law 
requires  -  four  years  of  study,  of  which  three  shall  be  in  a  medi¬ 
cal  school.  This  movement  in  the  direction  of  a  more  thorough 
education  means  that  the  medical  schools  desire  to  offer  a 
curriculum  worthy  to  attract  the  best  educated  men.  Moreover, 
the  medical  schools  are  endeavoring  to  adjust  their  courses  so 
that  they  will  be  the  natural  continuation  of  the  college  courses. 
Without  sacrificing  the  symmetry  and  completeness  of  the  col¬ 
lege  curriculum  or  abridging  the  studies  for  the  medical  degree, 
their  aim  is  so  to  adjust  the  two  that  they  shall  be  linked 
together  as  one  complete  whole.  Thus  many  of  the  medical 
schools  are  considering  what  means  can  be  adopted  to  draw  into 
affiliation  with  them  the  colleges  and  college  men  in  preference 
to  others.  The  larger  development  of  the  Jefferson  Medical 
College,  of  the  medical  departments  of  Harvard  University,  of 
the  University  of  Michigan,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  of  Johns  Hopkins,  are  evidences  of  the  same  wish  to  win 
the  college  men  to  a  medical  career.  The  union  of  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  with  Columbia  College  as  its  medi¬ 
cal  department,  and  the  projected  absorption  of  one  or  more  of 


6 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


the  Chicago  medical  schools  into  the  University  of  Chicago  show 
the  same  tendency.  Moreover,  the  colleges  are  looking  equally 
toward  the  medical  schools,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  by  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  courses  which  will  naturally  lead  up  to  medicine. 
In  Brown  University  the  same  movement  is  actively  taking 
shape  through  the  Brown  University  Medical  Association,  and 
in  several  universities  with  medical  departments  similar  steps 
have  already  been  taken.  It  is  a  movement  full  of  promise. 

If  any  of  you  look  forward  to  medicine  as  a  career  you  should 
view  it  from  three  different  standpoints.  First  on  its  economic 
side.  This  is  a  matter  of  no  little  importance,  for  every  man  in 
this  world  must  earn  his  living  and  also  naturally  looks  forward 
to  the  support,  not  only  of  himself,  but  of  his  wife  and  children 
in  the  future.  No  one  should  expect  in  medicine  to  make  a 
fortune.  A  few  doctors  do  so,  but  they  are  the  exception.  But 
every  man  who  enters  medicine,  if  he  will  be  faithful  and  honest 
in  his  work,  and  a  fortiori  the  more  intellectual  college  man,  can 
be  sure  of  a  competence,  nay  more,  can  be  sure  that  he  will 
enjoy  not  only  the  reasonable  reward  of  toil,  but  be  able  to  lay 
up  sufficient  for  his  own  old  age  and  for  his  family. 

Secondly,  a  much  more  elevating  and  attractive  side  is  the 
philanthropic  or  humanitarian.  The  medicine  of  the  future  will 
be  chiefly  in  the  direction  of  that  most  philanthropic  object,  the 
prevention  rather  than  the  cure  of  disease.  Hygiene  or  Prevent¬ 
ive  Medicine  has  only  arisen  within  the  last  forty  years.  It  has 
already  done  much,  but  it  promises  far  more.  If  it  is  necessary 
to  show  that  the  knowledge  of  hygiene  is  still  limited,  look  at 
the  recent  reports  on  the  sources  of  the  water  supply  of  New 
York.  Nay,  you  need  only  go  into  the  slums  of  your  own  city; 
or  if  you  live  in  the  more  God-blessed  country  you  may  find  a 
startling  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  health  in  almost  every  farm 
house.  Nay  more,  you  need  only  cross-question  a  half  dozen  of 
your  intimate  friends  as  to  their  modes  of  life  to  discover  that  the 
laws  of  hygiene  are  “more  honored  in  the  breach  than  the 
observance.” 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


17 


That  there  is  ample  room  for  missionary  work  in  the  matter  of 
personal  cleanliness  alone  will  be  evident  from  two  recent  inci¬ 
dents  in  my  clinics  at  St.  Agnes  and  the  Orthopedic  Hospitals. 
At  the  former,  as  I  uncovered  the  feet  of  a  woman  to  examine 
them  in  consequence  of  an  accident,  I  was  startled  at  their  condi¬ 
tion  and  asked  her  when  she  had  had  a  bath.  “And  phwat’s 
that?”  was  the  innocent  reply.  At  the  latter,  last  winter,  after 
examining  the  spine  of  a  young  lady  of  sixteen,  the  daughter  of 
a  respectable  farmer,  I  said  to  the  parents  with  a  bluntness  born 
of  indignant  surprise,  “It  must  be  a  long  time  since  your  daugh¬ 
ter  has  had  a  bath?”  “Why  yes,”  said  her  father,  “  I  don’t  believe 
she  has  been  in  a  tub  in  a  year.”  To  which  his  indignant  wife 
replied,  “  Why  of  course  she  has,  John.  Don’t  you  remember 
that  bath  she  took  last  summer?”  They  probably  agree  with  a 
witty  medical  friend  who  seriously  avers  that  ‘  ‘  everybody  ought 
to  take  a  bath  once  a  year  whether  he  needs  it  or  not.” 

A  recent  census  of  a  portion  of  the  Chicago  slum  district  also 
has  disclosed  the  fact  that  in  a  population  of  16,000  there  were 
but  four  bath  tubs  and  two  of  these  were  disconnected  from  the 
water  supply !  The  entire  community  suffers  from  such  inde¬ 
cency,  uncleanness  and  necessary  ill  health  of  a  part. 

What  a  fruitful  field  there  is  in  hygiene  both  for  scientific 
and  benevolent  teaching  as  to  plumbing,  drainage,  ventilation, 
clothing,  food,  drink,  city  architecture,  city  streets  and  sewage, 
city  water  supply  and  the  eradication  of  all  the  evil  influences 
which  confront  us,  both  in  country,  and  especially  in  city  life. 
Many  diseases  are  now  recognized  as  preventable,  if  the  commu¬ 
nity  were  only  alive  to  the  necessity  and  the  possibility  of  their 
prevention.  “For  every  case  of  typhoid  fever,”  it  has  been  said 
“somebody  ought  to  be  hung” — a  rough  and  epigrammatic 
way  of  stating  what  is  undoubtedly  true,  that  in  a  perfectly 
regulated  community  there  would  be  no  typhoid  fever. 

But  besides  such  public  benevolent  service,  there  is  a  personal 
philanthropic  side  of  medical  life,  to  which  I  gladly  advert.  Pic- 
ure  to  yourself  the  daily  life  of  the  doctor.  It  has  undoubtedly 


i8 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


its  trials,  many  and  great.  The  humdrum  recital  of  ancient 
aches  and  pains  sometimes  becomes  irksome  by  repetition.  The 
doctor  has  patients  upon  whom  he  has  bestowed  unremitting 
care  and  his  very  best  mental  and  physical  powers,  who  have 
proved  ungrateful  and  have  even  become  his  foes.  He  does  an 
immense  amount  of  unrequited  service.  His  nights  are  disturbed, 
his  days  are  not  his  own,  of  his  family  and  friends  he  sees  but 
little.  But  then,  what  calling  does  not  have  its  trials?  In  what 
life  is  there  not  friction,  which,  as  in  mechanics,  should  be 
allowed  for,  and  not  permitted  to  become  a  source  of  irritation 
and  annoyance?  But  in  spite  of  all  these  trials,  the  doctor’s  life 
is  so  rich  in  its  personal  rewards,  in  its  humane  service,  that  it 
ought  to  be  to  him  a  daily  joy. 

There  is  to  him  a  daily  personal  growth  in  knowledge.  Every 
sickroom  is  a  schoolroom,  and  every  case  a  lesson,  from  which 
he  comes  a  larger  man.  There  is  a  daily  personal  growth  in 
character,  so  that  he  should  lie  down  each  night  a  better  man. 
There  is  a  daily  personal  growth  in  his  power  to  do  good,  which 
should  be  at  once  a  reward  of  past  work,  and  a  stimulus  to 
better.  ,  There  is  a  daily  personal  growth  in  the  friendships  and 
esteems  of  life,  which  constitute  one  of  the  most  delightful  rewards 
of  the  doctor.  What  greater  joy  can  there  be  in  life  than  to  go 
about  among  one’s  fellow  men  carrying  with  him,  as  the  doctor 
does,  an  atmosphere  of  comfort,  of  hope,  of  courage,  of  health. 

There  come  to  him,  constantly,  cases  in  which  disease  chal¬ 
lenges  him  to  combat.  It  says  to  him,  as  it  were,  “Catch  me  if 
you  can,  in  all  my  devious  wanderings  and  unexpected  dis¬ 
guises  ;  ’  ’  and  there  is  a  mental  exhilaration  in  following  every 
turn  in  the  trail  and  running  to  earth  the  fleeing  goblin,  which 
is  captivating  to  every  inquiring  mind. 

Look  for  a  moment  at  the  methods  of  the  careful,  intelligent 
doctor,  as  he  investigates  such  a  case.  First,  he  inquires  with 
care  into  the  family  history  for  lurking  influences  of  evil  heredity. 
Next,  into  the  personal  history,  not  only  the  physical  history  of 
the  patient  from  his  birth,  but  the  influences  of  his  environment, 


AlyUMNI  ADDRESS 


19 


his  habits,  his  hours  of  rest,  his  methods  of  labor,  his  physical 
and  mental  virtues  and  vices.  Then  follows  the  history  of  his 
present  illness,  including  all  his  symptoms,  the  examination  of 
his  secretions  and  excretions,  the  shrewd  judgment  which  elimi¬ 
nates  the  unessential  and  often  the  inaccurate  or  imaginative 
statements  from  those  which  are  real  and  essential.  Then  too, 
he  must  not  forget  the  influence  of  mental  states ;  of  worry,  of 
family  trouble,  of  personal  trials.  Next  he  passes  to  the  physi¬ 
cal  examination  of  his  patient,  when  his  eye  must  be  as  keen  as 
that  of  an  eagle,  his  touch  deft  and  delicate  in  estimating  size, 
consistency,  elasticity,  and  other  physical  conditions.  He  must 
then  co-ordinate  all  the  so  far  disjointed  facts  with  a  mental  acumen 
and  logical  method  which,  at  first  laborious,  becomes  afterward 
comparatively  easy  if  he  has  been  faithful  and  thorough  in  his 
earlier  investigations.  By  these  means  he  reaches  a  diagnosis 
and  settles  definitely  upon  the  medical  or  surgical  treatment. 
Each  case  is  then  a  study  in  physics,  anatomy,  physiology, 
pathology,  psychology,  chemistry,  therapeutics.  In  the  vast 
majority  of  cases  he  is  rewarded  by  seeing  returning  health. 
Sir  Spencer  Wells  as  the  net  result  of  his  first  1,000  ovariotomies 
added  20,000  years  to  human  life,  and  so  far  has  modern  surgery 
surpassed  this  result  that  every  thousand  similar  operations 
to-day  add  not  less  than  30,000  years  to  human  life!  Think 
what  one  of  these  lives  means,  as  the  pale  cheek  regains  its  color, 
the  feeble  pulse  its  force,  strength  succeeds  weakness,  each  day 
records  a  gain,  and  finally  health  is  re-established.  The  tender 
father  returns  to  his  usual  pursuits ;  the  adored  mother  once  more 
becomes  the  center  of  loving  care  of  her  family ;  the  beloved 
child  is  restored  to  the  family  circle  with  ruddy  health,  rescued 
from  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  itself.  The  hushed 
voices,  the  soft  tread  of  the  sick  room  have  given  place  to  the 
laughter  of  health,  the  mists  of  sorrow  are  driven  away,  the 
anxious  alarms  of  disease  have  vanished.  What,  think  you, 
can  equal  the  joy  of  the  physician,  as  he  views  this  happy  trans¬ 
formation?  Who  is  a  dearer,  more  cherished,  more  welcome 


20 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


friend  than  he?  Who  finds  a  warmer  place  by  the  fireside 
and  in  the  very  hearts  of  his  patients?  No  one  can  adequately 
appreciate  his  profound  joy,  his  daily  delight,  his  deep  gratitude 
to  the  “  Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift.”  Oh,  my  friends, 
it  is  a  blessed  profession,  a  divine  calling,  with  a  heavenly 
recompense  on  earth. 

But  sometimes  death  must  come.  Even  here,  however,  the 
kind  and  sympathetic  physician  finds  his  place.  Who  can  so 
tenderly  guide  the  poor  sufferer  to  his  long  rest,  so  gently 
assuage  the  pain  of  the  dying?  Who  so  endears  himself  to 
broken  hearts  in  the  hour  of  their  bitter  extremity  as  the  strong 
yet  tender  Christian  physician?  Often,  even  death  makes  for 
us  our  dearest,  most  loving  friends,  who  would  pass  through 
fire  and  water  for  us. 

Even  its  dangers  are  an  attraction  akin  to  those  which  draw 
the  hardy  mountaineer  toward  the  dizzy  heights  of  the  Matter¬ 
horn.  And  when  to  these  dangers  is  added,  in  times  of  pesti¬ 
lence,  the  clarion  call  of  duty  to  his  fellow  man,  where  has  there 
been  a  recreant  doctor?  Point  out  the  renegade  if  you  can  ! 
The  gallant  Six  Hundred  who  rode  into  the  Valley  of  Death  were 
no  braver  than  the  unsung  heroes  of  Norfolk  or  of  Hamburg.  I 
glory  in  my  profession  that  in  such  hours  of  peril  it  has  known 
no  cowards ;  the  meanest  soldier  in  its  ranks  has  been  a  brave, 
unselfish,  devoted  hero,  and  oftentimes  a  faithful,  gentle  martyr 
dying  at  his  post  of  duty. 

But  besides  the  economic  and  the  philanthropic  side,  medicine 
has  thirdly  its  splendid  scientific  aspect  which  fuses  with  both  of 
the  others,  and  yet  may  be  regarded  separately  from  them.  Eet 
me  point  out  some  of  the  best  achievements  and  present  problems 
of  medicine.  The  present  century  has  seen  vast  strides  in  every 
department  of  medicine.  I  will  not  weary  you  by  mentioning 
the  immense  improvements  made  in  many  minor  details  which 
would  be  more  suited  to  a  technical  audience,  but  it  is  proper 
that  I  should  allude  to  three  brilliant  discoveries  which  stand 
out  prominently  as  of  the  first  magnitude. 


AlyUMNI  ADDRESS 


21 


First,  the  discovery  of  anesthetics.  The  beneficent  results 
from  this  discovery  are  so  well  known  that  I  need  only  call 
attention  to  them  and  also  note  in  passing  that  the  three  princi¬ 
pal  anesthetics,  ether,  chloroform,  and  nitrous  oxide,  are  Ameri¬ 
can  either  by  discovery,  or  by  introduction  into  general  use. 

The  second  great  achievement  is  the  antiseptic  method  by  one 
of  our  cousins  across  the  sea,  the  justly  immortal  Sir  Joseph 
Lister.  While  anesthetics  have  been  an  immense  boon,  espe¬ 
cially  in  the  domain  of  surgery,  antiseptics  have  saved  count¬ 
less  lives  and  untold  suffering.  The  method  is  so  recent  that  I 
have  seen  both  its  birth  and  its  development.  In  our  late  war 
and  for  ten  years  after  its  close  every  wound  and  every  opera¬ 
tion  was  followed  as  a  matter  of  course  by  fever  and  more  or 
less  suppuration,  or  the  formation  of  “matter,”  which  in  a 
multitude  of  cases  resulted  in  blood-poisoning,  erysipelas,  hos¬ 
pital  gangrene,  lock-jaw,  and  a  hundred  other  kindred  evils 
from  this  Pandora’s  box.  Now,  however,  we  are  enabled  to 
perform  any  one  of  the  ordinary  operations,  such  as  amputa¬ 
tions,  ligations  of  the  great  blood-vessels,  the  extirpation  of 
tumors  and  the  like  with  almost  absolute  safety,  and  this 
surgical  safety  has  emboldened  us  to  perform  many  operations 
undreamed  of  even  by  an  Astley  Cooper,  a  Nelaton,  or  a  Pan¬ 
coast.  The  great  cavities  of  the  body,  the  head,  the  abdomen, 
the  pelvis,  and  even  the  chest  are  invaded  with  a  sense  of 
security  and  an  almost  absolute  certainty  of  recovery  which 
would  have  astounded  our  fathers.  Amputations  which  were 
formerly  attended  with  a  mortality  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent,  are 
now  so  free  from  danger  that  we  always  expect  our  patients  to 
recover  and  are  chagrined  if  they  do  not.  Compound  fractures, 
which  twenty  years  ago  often  had  a  mortality  of  over  sixty  per 
cent.,  now  scarcely  occasion  any  anxiety,  and  ovariotomy, 
formerly  a  most  dangerous  operation,  the  rise  of  which  I  can 
well  remember,  has  now  a  mortality  of  only  ten,  five,  and  even 
three  per  cent. 

The  third  great  discovery  of  the  century  is  the  new  science  of 


22 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


Bacteriology,  a  child  as  yet  in  its  teens.  It  arose  when  many  of 
my  younger  auditors  were  discarding  their  knickerbockers  for 
trousers.  That  minute  organisms  or  germs  were  the  cause  of 
very  many  diseases  had  long  been  suspected,  but  until  twelve 
years  ago  we  were  not  at  all  certain  that  the  process  of  inflam¬ 
mation  and  the  formation  of  matter  or  pus,  or  that  many  well 
known  diseases  were  the  result  of  such  germs.  Now  we  know 
not  only  that  they  are  the  cause  of  all  inflammation,  but  scien¬ 
tific  investigation  has  shown  us  that  all  suppuration,  pneumonia, 
lock-jaw,  diphtheria,  erysipelas,  leprosy,  tuberculosis,  and  a 
host  of  other  diseases  are  due  to  these  minute  vegetable  germs. 
You  can  easily  understand  that  only  the  first  elementary  facts 
have  been  ascertained  and  by  no  means  all  of  these.  Here  is  a 
whole  new  science  awaiting  patient  investigation  and  brilliant 
discovery.  Who  that  has  ambition  and  enthusiasm  is  not 
aroused  by  such  a  prospect  ? 

How  is  it  that  these  minute  germs  produce  their  malign  in¬ 
fluences?  We  know  that  they  secrete  or  in  some  way  produce 
certain  deleterious  poisons  in  the  human  body,  but  how  these  or 
the  bacteria  act  we  do  not  know.  When  we  learn  just  how  they 
act,  in  all  probability  we  shall  be  able  soon  to  discover  the 
means  of  counteracting  their  harmful  effects.  The  problem 
how  to  destroy  the  bacteria  without  destroying  the  patient  is 
one  which  we  have  not  yet  solved.  We  know  that  they  produce 
infection.  We  know  fairly  well  how  to  prevent  their  entrance 
into  the  body  in  surgical  cases  by  the  careful  antiseptic  cleans¬ 
ing  of  the  person  of  the  patient,  of  the  instruments,  sponges, 
dressings,  hands,  everything  which  comes  in  contact  with  the 
wound.  But  in  many  instances  cases  are  brought  to  us  already 
infected.  A  man  who  has  met  with  any  accident  has  an  infected 
wound,  and  if  any  time  has  elapsed  his  system  has  become  in¬ 
fected.  We  are  as  yet  groping  for  methods  by  which  we  can 
surely  overcome  such  a  previously  established  infection.  Here, 
you  see,  is  another  field  for  scientific  activity  and  the  most 
beneficent  results. 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


23 


We  are  learning  how  to  prevent  typhoid  fever,  tuberculosis, 
and  other  medical  diseases,  but  have  not  even  yet  begun  to 
learn  how  to  prevent  the  entrance  into  the  system  of  the  bacteria 
of  pneumonia,  influenza,  and  other  similar  diseases. 

Again,  there  are  certain  half-discovered  facts  which  already 
give  us  glimpses  of  unsuspected  triumphs.  Within  the  last  few 
years  it  has  been  found  by  experiments  on  animals  that  the 
germs  of  certain  diseases  when  inoculated,  for  instance  in  a 
rabbit,  from  that  to  a  second,  a  third,  and  so  on,  become  in¬ 
tensified  in  their  action;  whereas  if  similarly  inoculated  in 
one  monkey  after  another  they  become  diluted  and  weakened  in 
their  action.  How  or  why  does  the  virus  or  germ  become 
stronger  by  transmission  through  a  series  of  rabbits  and  weaker 
in  its  transmission  through  monkeys  ?  How  can  we  utilize  this 
for  the  benefit  of  humanity  ?  Here  is  another  problem  awaiting 
its  Newton  or  its  Morse. 

Again,  we  know  that  there  are  animals  in  which  we  cannot 
produce  certain  diseases.  For  instance,  the  attempt  has  been 
made  scores  of  times  to  inoculate  cancer  into  the  lower  animals 
without  success.  They  do  not  suffer  from  measles  or  scarlet 
fever,  whooping  cough  or  mumps.  There  are  also  diseases 
peculiar  to  certain  animals  which  man  does  not  take.  We 
know  very  well  that  there  are  some  human  diseases  from  which 
certain  persons  are  exempt.  For  instance,  people  have  grown 
up  from  childhood,  been  exposed  to  scarlet  fever,  or  measles, 
or  small-pox,  and  yet  have  not  taken  it.  These  animals  or 
people  have  what  we  call  a  ‘  ‘  natural  immunity  ’  ’  to  these  dis¬ 
eases.  Thus  far  preventive  medicine  has  only  attacked  one 
disease  in  the  way  of  producing  an  artificial  or  “acquired  im¬ 
munity.”  This  is  vaccination  by  which  immunity  against 
small-pox  is  produced ;  or,  in  other  words,  a  vaccinated  person 
can  be  exposed  repeatedly  even  in  epidemics  of  small-pox  with¬ 
out  contracting  the  disease.  With  such  a  striking  example 
before  us  for  over  a  century,  how  strange  it  is  that  it  did  not 
suggest  experiments  in  the  same  direction  in  other  diseases. 


24 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


But  at  last  this  hint  has  been  taken  and  it  promises  much  in 
the  future.  For  instance,  it  has  been  discovered  that  if  we 
inoculate  an  animal  with  the  germ  of  lock-jaw,  the  most  virulent 
of  all  bacteria,  and  then  take  the  watery  part  of  the  animal’s 
blood — the  blood  serum — and  inoculate  another  animal  with  it, 
the  second  animal  may  then  be  inoculated  with  the  germ  of 
lock-jaw  without  becoming  the  victim  of  the  disease;  in  other 
words,  in  the  second  animal  there  has  been  produced  an  acquired 
‘  ‘  immunity  ’  ’  against  the  disease .  Even  if  the  lock- j  aw  had  already 
attacked  the  second  animal,  this  blood-serum,  it  was  found, 
would  vanquish  the  disease.  Here  we  come  to  one  of  the  most 
striking  recent  results  of  scientific  investigation.  Once  that  it 
had  been  tried  sufficiently  often  to  determine  that  this  mode  of 
conferring  immunity  or  of  arresting  the  disease  was  not  delete¬ 
rious  to  the  animal,  it  was  deemed  right  that  the  same  attempt 
should  be  made  in  man  to  cure  this  dreadful  disease,  and  within 
the  last  three  or  four  years  there  have  been  recorded  nearly  a 
score  of  cases  in  which  patients  suffering  from  violent  attacks 
of  lock-jaw  have  been  cured  by  inoculation  with  the  blood-serum 
from  such  an  animal.  This  immunity  or  cure  is  supposed  to 
come  from  some  antidote,  or,  as  it  is  called,  “antitoxin,”  pro¬ 
duced  in  the  first  inoculated  animal  and  introduced  into  the 
body  of  the  second  animal  or  of  man  with  the  blood-serum. 
Think  you  that  it  will  be  no  great  service  to  humanity,  no  great 
scientific  feat,  which  will  fill  one’s  mind  with  a  wondering, 
never-ending  satisfaction,  and  crown  his  life  with  fame,  when 
this  problem  is  fully  solved?  What  extraordinary  results  it 
may  lead  to  we  can  as  yet  only  guess  at,  but  its  possibilities 
seem  magnificent.  At  this  very  moment  Dr.  Haffkine  is  in 
India  inoculating  people  with  the  antitoxin  of  cholera  and  bids 
fair  to  succeed  in  his  efforts  to  limit  or  prevent  this  fearlul 
plague. 

You  have  all  heard,  of  course,  of  Koch’s  tuberculin.  This 
consists  of  a  modification  of  the  ptomaines  or  poisons  produced 
by  the  little  bacillus  or  germ  which  causes  tuberculosis  or  con- 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


25 


sumption.  You  know  how  the  discovery  was  prematurely  an¬ 
nounced  and  heralded  by  the  newspapers  and  then  fell  into 
disuse,  and  has  been  the  object  both  of  obloquy  and  ridicule. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  still  being  used  in  other  modified  forms 
by  physicians  and  surgeons,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
we  have  gone  a  long  way  towards  finding  the  means  by  which 
we  shall  probably  within  the  next  few  years  cure  consumption 
and  all  the  other  baleful  effects  which  follow  from  tuberculosis. 
And  when  I  tell  you  that  there  is  not  an  organ  in  the  body  which 
is  not  affected  by  tuberculosis,  and  that  it  is  the  cause  of  far  more 
suffering  and  more  deaths  than  any  other  disease,  you  will 
appreciate  the  immense  boon  its  cure  will  be. 

And  please  note  that  these  instances  which  I  have  given  of 
lock-jaw  and  of  cholera  and  of  consumption  are  but  types  of  a 
series  of  investigations  in  the  antitoxins  or  natural  antidotes. 
This  opens  the  door  to  a  wholly  new  class  of  remedies  furnished 
by  our  very  foes,  on  which  a  large  number  of  experiments  are 
being  constantly  made. 

The  fearful  ravages  of  cancer  are  familiar  to  all.  Its  cause  is 
unknown,  its  cure  compassed  only  by  its  early  extirpation,  and 
even  then,  I  must  regretfully  confess,  but  rarely.  But  within  the 
last  year  research  has  seemed  to  show  that  we  are  on  the  verge 
of  the  discovery  of  its  cause,  and  if  so,  time  will  give  us  its  cure. 
Who  of  you  would  not  rather  make  such  a  discovery  than  be 
the  father  of  the  Atlantic  cable  or  the  successful  general  of  a 
great  war?  Who  would  be  so  blessed  by  future  millions  of 
mankind  as  the  discoverer  of  such  a  boon  to  the  whole  race  ? 

Within  the  last  two  years  also  another  class  of  remedies  has 
been  introduced,  especially  in  connection  with  a  disease  with 
which  you  are  probably  not  familiar,  known  as  myxoedema. 
You  all  doubtless  are  aware  what  goitre  is.  Until  lately  it  was 
scarcely  deemed  amenable  to  operation,  but  modern  surgical 
methods  have  so  improved  that  several  hundreds  of  cases  have 
been  reported  in  which  the  goitre  has  been  removed,  and  the 
patients  have  nearly  all  recovered.  But  after  these  operations  a 


26 


AlyUMNI  ADDRESS 


curious  and  unexpected  result  was  found.  Goitre  consists  in 
the  enlargement  of  a  certain  gland  in  the  neck  called  the 
thyroid  gland.  If  the  whole  of  this  gland  either  in  health  or 
disease  is  removed,  a  considerable  proportion  of  such  patients 
undergo  a  sort  of  elephantine  growth  all  over  the  body.  The 
features  become  thick  and  clumsy,  the  fingers  and  toes  swell 
to  twice  or  thrice  their  ordinary  size.  The  mental  condition 
also  degenerates  into  a  form  of  cretinism.  This  misfortune 
attending  the  complete  removal  of  the  gland  led,  first  to  a  modi¬ 
fication  of  the  operation,  viz.,  the  partial  instead  of  the  total 
removal  of  the  gland ;  even  a  little  of  the  gland  if  left,  it  was 
found,  would  prevent  such  a  bad  result.  But  it  has  done  more 
than  this.  Victor  Horsley,  in  England,  suggested  that  in  cases 
in  which,  as  sometimes  occurs,  this  disease  myxcedema,  arose 
spontaneously,  the  thyroid  gland  itself  might  be  used  as  its  best 
remedy.  Accordingly  first  it  was  used  surgically.  The  thyroid 
gland  was  removed  from  a  sheep  and  transplanted  under  the 
skin  or  into  the  abdominal  cavity  of  the  patient.  It  grew  there 
and  so  long  as  it  remained  the  patient  was  bettered ;  but  experi¬ 
ence  showed  that  the  gland  soon  disappeared  and  the  betterment 
vanished  with  it.  Then  an  extract  was  prepared  from  the  gland 
and  used  hypodermatically.  This  gave  still  better  results,  but 
it  was  suggested  again  that  if  the  patient  were  simply  fed  on  the 
gland  itself  (it  is  one  of  the  sweetbreads  of  the  body)  cure 
might  follow ;  and  within  the  past  year  a  large  number  of  cases 
have  been  reported  which  have  been  cured  by  this  wholly  new 
method  of  treatment.  See  then  here  another  fruitful  field  of 
research  in  the  administration  of  various  remedies  derived  from 
particular  glands  or  other  structures  in  the  animal  body. 
Already  such  an  extract  from  the  brain  has  been  used  in 
epilepsy,  but  it  is  too  early  as  yet  to  say  whether  the  result  will 
prove  to  be  good  or  not.  Within  a  month,  Vaughn  of  Ann 
Arbor  has  also  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  extract  of  the 
thyroid  and  other  glands  is  fatal  to  bacteria.  This  new  discovery 
may  lead  to  the  most  beneficial  results. 


AlyUMNI  ADDRESS 


27 


But  what  we  do  not  know  in  bacteriology  is  far,  far  greater 
than  what  we  do  know.  The  bacteria  of  scarlet  fever,  of 
measles,  of  small  pox,  of  whooping  cough,  of  typhus  fever, 
rabies,  and  many  other  diseases  are  as  yet  unknown  and  await¬ 
ing  your  touch,  your  investigation.  If  you  miss  your  chance, 
others  will  seize  it. 

If  I  were  to  ask  any  one  of  you  whether  Anatomy,  Physiology, 
and  Chemistry  are  comparatively  complete  sciences,  I  suppose 
you  would  answer  unhesitatingly,  yes.  On  the  contrary,  they 
are  most  incomplete.  We  know  to  a  fair  extent  the  gross 
anatomy  of  the  human  body,  although  even  here  there  is  an 
immense  deal  to  be  learned;  but  the  minute  anatomy  is  not 
well  known,  and  there  is  scarcely  an  organ  in  the  body  whose 
physiology  has  been  half  studied.  Kven  so  common  a  substance 
as  the  white  of  an  egg  has  defied  the  chemists,  and  the  analy¬ 
sis  of  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  solids  of  the  body  is  imperfect. 
Yet  this  is  fundamental  Physiological  Chemistry. 

When  I  first  taught  anatomy,  the  great  divisions  of  the  brain 
into  two  hemispheres,  the  cerebrum,  the  cerebellum,  etc.,  were 
of  course  known,  but  the  various  convolutions  of  the  brain  sur¬ 
face  were  deemed  to  be  simply  fortuitous  by  the  anatomist,  the 
physiologist,  the  physician,  or  the  surgeon,  and  that  one  con¬ 
volution  had  no  more  value  than  another.  Investigations  in  the 
last  twenty  years  have  definitely  mapped  out  the  brain,  showing 
that  the  convolutions  and  fissures  are  not  arranged  hap-hazard, 
but  on  a  definite  plan.  A  portion  of  the  brain  at  the  back  of 
the  head  and  a  little  at  the  side  of  the  head  are  fairly  well 
known,  well  enough  indeed  for  the  successful  performance  of 
extraordinary  operations  in  diseases  and  injuries  of  the  brain. 
But  all  the  rest  of  the  brain  is  as  yet  almost  a  terra  incognita — 
an  Africa  standing  expectant  for  its  Stanley.  Here  again  is 
another  problem  seeking  solution,  a  problem  which  is  enough 
to  arouse  the  scientific  ambition  of  any  enthusiastic  mind. 

Again,  it  is  only  within  the  last  five  years  that  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  relation  of  diseases  of  the  ear  to  diseases  of 


28 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


the  brain  has  been  recognized,  and  their  scientific  surgical  treat¬ 
ment  begun.  The  splendid  results  already  achieved  give  prom¬ 
ise  that  within  a  few  years  we  shall  know  not  only  how  to  cure 
brain  disease  the  result  of  disease  of  the  ear,  but  what  is  far 
better,  how  to  prevent  it. 

The  anatomy  of  the  nerves  has  been  known  for  many  years  in 
its  gross  outlines,  but  the  problems  which  present  themselves 
here  are  many  and  varied.  Cut  a  certain  nerve,  the  ulnar, 
which  supplies  the  inner  part  of  the  hand,  and  the  results  are 
not  the  same  in  all  patients.  You  may  abolish  touch  and  yet 
pain  will  remain.  You  may  even,  as  I  have  seen  within  the 
last  few  weeks  in  several  cases,  cut  out  one  to  three  inches  of 
the  sensitive  nerve  of  the  face,  and  it  will  be  reproduced,  and 
with  this  the  frightful  pain  of  tic  douloureux,  for  which  the  nerve 
was  removed,  will  return.  On  the  other  hand,  by  a  wound  or 
an  operation  from  one  to  three  inches  of  a  nerve  may  be  re¬ 
moved,  and  you  want  the  nerve  to  be  reproduced  and  so  re¬ 
establish  sensation  in  the  skin  supplied  by  it  and  motion  in  the 
muscles  to  which  it  goes,  and  the  nerve  steadily  refuses  to 
reproduce  itself.  Why  in  the  one  case  it  will  and  why  in  the 
other  case  it  will  not  reproduce  itself  we  do  not  know.  In  fact, 
what  we  do  not  know  about  nerves  alone  would  make  a  good-  . 
sized  book. 

Thirty  years  ago  when  we  looked  at  an  eye  all  we  knew  was 
what  we  could  see  on  the  outside.  The  trouble  was  that 
nothing  could  be  seen  inside  of  the  eye,  although  there  was 
such  an  inviting  window  in  front  of  it  by  which  we  could  look 
in,  because  the  interior  was  totally  dark.  But  it  occurred  to 
Helmholz  that  if  by  a  little  bit  of  looking-glass  he  reflected  light 
into  the  eye  and  then  scratched  a  little  hole  in  the  quicksilver, 
he  could  look  through  the  hole  into  the  illuminated  interior  of 
the  eye  and  see  all  there  was  inside  of  it.  From  this  simple 
idea  has  arisen  the  ophthalmoscope,  by  which  the  whole  medicine 
and  surgery  of  the  eye  have  been  revolutionized,  and  great  light 
has  been  also  thrown  on  the  diseases  of  the  brain. 


ALUMNI  ADDRESS 


29 


Again,  when  the  mouth  was  opened,  we  could  see  certain 
parts,  but  the  whole  interior  of  the  larynx  and  windpipe  was 
beyond  our  sight  and  therefore  beyond  our  knowledge.  But 
soon  after  the  ophthalmoscope  was  discovered  Czermak  and 
Tiirck  found  that  if  a  little  mirror  were  held  in  the  back  of  the 
throat  at  an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees  and  a  ray  of  light 
were  thrown  upon  it  from  a  small  perforated  bit  of  looking-glass, 
the  interior  of  the  throat  like  the  interior  of  the  eye  would  be 
illuminated,  and  we  could  look  through  the  little  hole  in  the 
looking-glass  and  see  the  reflected  image  of  the  vocal  chords 
and  the  whole  of  the  larynx  in  the  mirror. 

Similar  inventions  await  the  ingenious  investigator  of  the 
future  for  the  examination  of  other  cavities  and  organs  of  the 
body,  and  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  we  shall  be  able,  I 
hope,  to  see  and  therefore  to  know  the  interior  of  the  stomach 
as  well  as  we  do  the  exterior  of  the  body.  That  this  will  illumi¬ 
nate  our  own  minds  as  well  as  the  stomachs  of  our  patients  is 
certain. 

And  so  I  might  go  on  in  one  department  of  medicine  after 
another,  presenting  to  you  similar  problems,  some  of  them  so 
technical  that  they  would  not  be  suited  to  a  non-professional 
audience,  and  in  each  show  you  the  vast  need  there  is  for  bright 
minds.  Has  the  last  word  been  said  in  surgery,  in  medicine, 
in  the  diseases  of  any  of  the  special  organs  of  the  body  ?  Nay, 
verily  we  are  but  at  the  alphabet  of  investigation  and  of  cure. 
Great  as  has  been  the  progress  in  the  last  fifty  years,  greater  I 
venture  to  say  than  in  all  previous  time,  I  believe  that  the  next 
fifty  years  will  far  eclipse  the  discoveries  of  the  past  fifty.  Who 
could  have  predicted  the  rise  of  Bacteriology  a  score  of  years 
ago  ?  And  who  will  venture  to  say  that  in  the  next  twenty 
years  another  science  equally  far-reaching,  equally  beneficent, 
equally  brilliant  in  its  achievements,  may  not  arise  ?  Even  the 
present  is  a  splendid  time, 

“  An  age  on  ages  telling 
To  be  living  is  sublime.” 


30 


AlyUMNI  ADDRESS 


But  the  twentieth  century  in  which  you  will  live  will  be  the 
most  glorious  time  of  all  the  ages.  But  you  may  take  part  in 
this  grand  march  of  progress,  not  only  in  the  rank  and  file,  but 
as  a  leader  if  you  will  but  write.  Or  it  may  be,  if  you  have  the 
gift  of  imparting  knowledge,  you  may  be  one  of  the  teachers  of 
medical  science,  an  enviable  post  of  honor  and  responsibility  but 
also  of  unequalled  enjoyment. 

Have  I  not  put  before  you  enough  to  arouse  the  ambition, 
the  energy,  the  benevolence,  the  enthusiasm,  of  any  young  man 
about  to  choose  his  career  ?  Can  there  be  in  any  other  depart¬ 
ment  of  human  knowledge  so  fine  a  field  for  research,  for  dis¬ 
covery,  for  fame,  and  what  is  far  better,  for  serving  the  human 
race  ?  If,  in  consequence  of  what  I  have  said  to  you,  some  of 
you  will  select  Medicine  as  your  chosen  pursuit,  rest  assured 
that  if  you  will  faithfully  perform  your  duty,  at  the  close  of  life 
you  will  have  the  pleasure  of  surveying  a  career  which  has  been 
advantageous  to  yourselves,  has  been  a  means  of  doing  good  to 
your  fellow  men,  and  I  verily  believe  has  approximated  as  near 
as  possible  to  the  Divine  Life  as  is  given  to  any  man  to  do. 


